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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Soon after the death of Lope de Vega in 1635 Calderón was recognized as the foremost playwright of Spain and of the pleasure-loving court of Philip IV. It was not long before Philip decided to bestow upon his protégé the coveted order of Santiago. Pope Urban VIII signed the pontifical dispensation on April 28, 1637, and from that day on Calderón wore the insignia of his newly acquired honor.1 But the rise of Calderón as a court dramatist had begun several years earlier when some of his plays were being produced in the Salón de las Comedias of the old alcázar.
1 Emilio Cotarelo y Mori, Ensayo sobre la vida y obras de D. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Madrid, 1924), pp. 173-176. In Casa con dos puertas mala es de guardar there is a long speech by Lisardo—pp. 21-23 in Northup, Three Plays by Calderón (New York, 1926)—which contains many supposedly autobiographical details. Among them is an allusion to to the campaign in Flanders at the conclusion of which Lisardo (Calderón?) returned to Spain
According to Harry W. Hilborn, A Chronology of the Plays of D. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Toronto, 1938), the date of composition of this play is 1629. If this is correct, does it indicate that Calderón at that early date was hinting to the King that the honor of the order of Santiago was about due?
2 Cotarelo, op. cit., pp. 142, 146, 167-169, 171. For an excellent description as well as a diagram of the alcázar see Carl Justi, Diego Velázquez and His Times, trans. A. H. Keane (London, 1889), pp. 96-104.
3 Angel Valbuena Prat, La vida española en la edad de oro (Barcelona, 1943), pp. 254-256. Valbuena calls the Buen Retiro a forerunner in refinement of the palace of Versailles of the 18th century.
4 Cotarelo, passim. For a diagram of the Coliseo see p. 202. Concerning Philip's passion for the theater see Martin Hume, The Court of Philip IV (New York, n.d.), p. 149, n. 1.
5 The Marqués de Liche, who was in charge of court productions, spent 120,000 escudos for one royal entertainment and 30,000 ducats for another. Cf. Cotarelo, passim, and George Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature (Boston—New York, 1891), II, 481, n. 36.
6 Further information about Cosme Lotti will be found in Cotarelo's Sebastián de Prado y su mujer Bernarda Ramirez (Madrid, 1916), pp. 111 ff.
7 Hartzenbusch, Biblioteca de autores españoles (Madred, 1848), vii, 385—390, gives the date as 1639. Cotarelo, pp. 157-158, gives 1635, which is correct according to the Segunda parte (1637), where we read in the list of plays “El mayor encanto amor, fiesta que se repre-sentó a su Magestad la noche de S. Juan del año seiscientos y Ireinta y cinco, en el estanque del Real Palacio del buen Retiro.”
8 According to Pfandl, Cultura y costumbres del pueblo español de los siglos xvi y xvii. Introductión al estudio del siglo de oro (Barcelona, 1929), p. 230, the fact that the vulgo were admitted to the palace to see plays presented there shows the intimacy between people and monarch, and is proof of the deep roots of the monarchy in the national consciousness. In addition to the theaters there were many other popular pastimes in the reign of Philip IV. See José Deleito y Piñuela, También se divierte el pueblo (Madrid, 1944).
9 León Pinelo, Anales de Madrid (an unpublished MS in the Biblioteca Nacional), quoted by Hartzenbusch, xiv, 677b. According to Paz y Melia, Catâlogo de las piezas de teatro que se conservan en el departamento de manuscritos de la Bibioteca Nacional, Segunda edición (Madrid, 1934), item 1409, this play was performed at the royal palace in Valencia by order of “… el Excmo. Sr. D. Luis de Moscoso Ossorio Hurtado de Mendoza Sandoval y Roxas, conde de Altamira … Virrey y capitan general del Reino de Valencia el dfa 4 de junio, domingo, de 1690, para celebrar el matrimonio de Carlos II con Doña Mariana de Baviera y de Neoburg.”
10 The edition consulted in the present study is Hartzenbusch, vols, vii, lx, xii, xiv. The information that seventy plays were performed at the court has been derived from several sources: a) Cotarelo, (Cot.); b) Hartzenbusch, xiv, 661-682 (H); c) the headings of the plays published in the first five parts 1636-77 (the Vera Tassis' edition 1682-91), which often indicate that a play was “representada ante sus Magestades” (see my article “The Publication of Calderón 's Plays in the Seventeenth Century”, PQ, xxvii [1948], 32-51); d) internal evidence, e.g., the last verses of El postrer duelo de España read:
El sitio de Breda seems to have been written at royal request, according to the last four lines:
and e) G. Cruzada Villamil, “Datos inéditos que dan a conocer la cronología de las comedias representadas en el reinado de Felipe IV, en los sitios reaies, en el alcázar de Madrid, Buen Retiro y otras partes, sacados de los libros de gastos y cuadernos de nóminas de aquella época que se conservan en el archivo del palaciode Madrid”—El Averiguador (1871),i,8,9, 26, 27, 74, 106, 171. It would be interesting to have access to the additional data that this latter author refers to on p. 202: “Muchos más datos que éstos, tengo recogidos en el Archivo de S.M., que iré publicando coleccionados con mejor orden, para que pueda conocerse la cronologta del Teatro Español en el siglo xvii.”
(1) A secreto agravio, secreta venganza, Cot. 168; (2) Afectos de odio y amor, iii. (1687), Cot. 308; (3) Agradecer y no amar, v (1682), Cot. 290; (4) El alcaide di si mismo, Averiguador 107, Cot. 169; (5) Amado y aborrecido, ix (1691), Cot. 325; (6) Amar después de la muerte, Averiguador, 73, Cot. 149; (7) Amor, honor y poder, Averiguador, 8-9, Cot. 118; (8) Antes que todo es mi dama, viii (1684), Cot. 280; (9) Las armas de la hermosura, ix (1691), Cot. 327; (10) Auristela y Lisidante, vii (1682), H. 679b; (11) La banda y la flor, Cot. 146; (12) Basta collar, v (1682), also internal evidence; (13) Bien vengas, mal, si vienes solo, Averiguador 106, Cot. 168; (14) Coda uno para si, Cot. 291; (15) El Castillo de Lindabridis, ix (1691), Cot. 314; (16) Céjalo y Pocris, ix (1691), H iii, 489; (17) Celos aun del aire matan, vii (1682), H 679; (18) Con quien vengo, vengo, Cot. 167; (19) El conde Lucanor, Cot. 329; (20) Dar liempo al tiempo, vi (1682), Cot. 290; (21) Darlo todo y no dar nada, v (1677), vii (1682, Cot. 290; (22) Dicha y desdicha del nombre, vi (1682), H. 679a; (23) Duelos de amor y lealtad, Averiguador 27, ix (1691), Cot. 325; (24) Eco y Narciso iv (1688), Cot. 314; (25) En esta vida todo es verdad y todo mentira, iii (1687), Cot. 310; (26) La estatua de Prometeo, v (1677), vi (1682); (27) La exaltación de la cruz, Cot. 280-281; (28) La fiera, et rayo, y la piedra, iii (1687), Cot. 290; (29) Fieras afemina amor, vi (1682), Cot. 324; (30) Fineza contra fineza, iv (1672; 1673), iv (1688); (31) Fortunas de Andrómeda y Perseo, vi (1682), Cot. 293; (32) El galán fantasma, H. 671a; (33) El golfo de las sirenas, iv (1672,1674), iv (1688), Cot. 305; (34) La gran Cenobia, H. 671a; (35) Guárdate del agua mansa, H. 664, 668b; (36) Gustos y disgustos no son mas que imaginación, v (1682), H. 678a; (37) Hado y divisa de Leonido y de Marfisa, v (1682), Cot. 341; (38) La hija del aire (Pt. i), Averiguador 171; iii (1687), H. 679b; (39) La hija del aire (Pt. ii), iii (1687); (40) El hijo del sol, Faetón, iv (1672, 1674), iv (1688), Cot. 313; (41) El hombre pobre todo es trazas, Cot. 119-120; (42) El jardin de Falerina, V (1677), v (1688), Averiguador 107, Cot. 169, 280-282; (43) Júdas Macabeo,
11 See my “Court References in Calderón's zarzuelas”, Hisp. Rev., xv (1947), 365-377.
12 See also my article, “The Two Versions of Calderón's El laurel de Apolo”, Hisp. Rev., xiv (1946), 213-234.
13 The Copernican concept of the universe had not been generally accepted in Spain in the 17th century. For the attributes of the fourth planet see Alfonso el Sabio, Setenario, ed. Kenneth H. Vanderford (Buenos Aires, 1945), pp. 60-62.
14 See Velázquez, ed. Enrique Lafuente (London—New York: Phaidon, 1943), plate 69.
15 Ibid., plate 79. For other portraits of Philip and his family see plates 28,35,63, 64,65, 67, 69, 70, 76, 78, 80, 81, 97, 98, 125, 128, 129, 133-137, 148, 149,150-151. Northup in his edition of Casa con dos puertas has recovered from the Osuna MS 148 lines dealing with Philip IV's falconry hunt. This lengthy description of the chase was undoubtedly inserted by Calderón to curry the King's favor. Since it retards the action of the play its excision from most editions is understandable.
16 This time-worn concept of the chase as simulated warfare is found also in the Quijote, part ii, ch. xxxiv, ed. Rodríguez Marín (Madrid, 1922), vi, 310: “La caza es una imagen de la guerra. . . .” In La adversa fortuna de don Aharo de Luna, attributed to Tirso, the Infante de Aragón has become so weary of the concept that he remarks:
17 This is a rather belated manifestation of Spain's ecumenical dream, of “les espérances messianiques” which first centered around Cisneros and later around the person of the Emperor: fiel unum ovile et unus pastor, a dream best expressed by Acuña's famous Soneto al rey nuestro señor. Cf. M. Bataillon, Erasme et l'Espagne (Paris, 1937), pp. 63, 75, 243245, 416-417, 463, 537, 682. For a further study of a concept of the Spanish monarchy see Leopold Von Eanke, La monarguia española de los sighs xvi y xvii, trad, de Manuel Pedroso (Mexico, 1946); and José Antonio Mara vail, La teoria española del estado en el siglo xvii (Madrid, 1944). Another valuable study is by Arco y Garay, La idea de imperio en la politica y la literatura españolas (Madrid, 1944).
18 For an account of a celebration held in the New World on the occasion of Baltasar Carlos' birth see Relation de las fiestas que el comertio y consulado de los mercaderes de Lima, celebra al nacimienlo del principe nuestro señor don Baltasar Carlos de Austria (Sevilla, 1632).
19 For an account of the baptism see Hume, pp. 210-211.
20 A list of those present together with a full account of the event is to be found in Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza, Convocation de las cortes de Costilla y iuramento del principe D. Baltasar Carlos (Madrid: Imprenta del reyno, 1632).
21 We find this same thought re-echoed twenty-five years later on the occasion of the birth of another prince, Felipe Próspero:
22 Hume, pp. 209-210.
23 An account of the festivities is to be found in Relacion de las fiestas que ha avido en la corte de España por las nuevas felices de la confirmation de los casamientos de Su Magestad (Madrid: Iuan Manudo Bosque, 1649).
24 A work entirely in prose by Joseph Peilicer de Ossau Salas y Tovar, Alma de la gloria de España, epitalamio al rey nuestro señor (Madrid: Gregorio Rodriguez, 1650), commemorates the marriage of Philip and Mariana.
26 Cotarelo, p. 290.
26 Ibid., p. 328.
27 For an account of these fiestas see Hume, pp. 456-462. See also Relation de las fiestas que la ciudad de Huesca de el reyno de Aragon ha hecho al nacimiento del principe nuestro señor D. Felipe Prospero (n.p., n.d.). An account of the festivities in a Spanish colony (probably Naples) is in Feste celebrate per la nascita del prencipe di Spagna (n.p., n.d.).
28 Another allusion to the coat of arms of the House of Hapsburg is found in Guárdate del agua mansa, I, ix:
29 See note 17. In the loa to Fieras afemina amor we find more references to “Catholic” rulers:
30 Cotarelo, p. 327.
31 El conde Lucanor was performed at the palace June 9,1680, on the birthday of Leopold I (Cotarelo, p. 329). 32 Cotarelo, p. 328.
33 A study of court life at Madrid is to be found in Deleito y Piñuela's Sólo Madrid es corte (Madrid, 1942).
34 Moreto in La ocasión hace al ladrón (c. 1666-67) alludes to the time when Calderón was writing only for royal amusement:
35 A case has been made for Tirso as a plitical and social reformer by Ruth Lee Kennedy, “La prudencia en la mujer and the Ambient that Brought it Forth”, PMLA, lxiii (1948), 1131-90.
36 M. A. Buchanan, “Culteranismo in Calderón's La vida es sueño”, in Homenaje ofrecido a Menéndez Pidal (Madrid, 1925), i, 545, raises this interesting point: “One cannot help wondering whether Calderón was chosen court dramatist because of his style, or his style was the result of his appointment.” On the basis of the evidence presented in this study is it not reasonable to conclude that Calderón was chosen court dramatist because he knew how to win the King's favor by his flattery, and, having once become aware of the monarch's weakness for it, the dramatist continued in this vein because he knew his future would be secure?
